Celebrating Wrens Nest in the West Midlands – Amazing Geology

Team members at Everything Dinosaur got the chance to visit the amazing Wren’s Nest nature reserve in the West Midlands (England), recently.  This location has S.S.S.I (site of special scientific interest) status, amazing geology and wonderful Silurian fossils.

No hammers are allowed so fossil hunters please be aware of this but have a camera handy as there are lots of great geological features to photograph, as for the fossils, crinoids, barchiopods, corals are abundant, these can be picked up and no hammering is required.

Lots of Fossils to be Found

Lots of Silurian fossils to collect.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Wren’s Nest

There is a monument on one of the paths around the nature reserve, it is dedicated to all those who worked in the Seven Sisters mine.

The Wren’s Nest Monument (Seven Sisters)

Recognising the importance of Wrens Nest.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Sir Roderick Murchison

This location was recognised for its geological significance by Sir Roderick Murchison (1792 – 1871).  Born into a wealthy Scottish family, at Tarradale House, on the shores of the river Beauly in the region of the Scottish Highlands called Easter Ross, the young Roderick Murchison was destined for a career in the British military.  He attended military college and fought in the Napoleonic wars.  However, when he married he was introduced to the joys of fossil collecting by his wife and his high status in Scottish society led him to be influenced by the many distinguished scientists that he met.

He became an active member of the Geological Society of London, helped to form the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Geographical Society, becoming this Society’s President.

He is perhaps best remembered for his work on the dating of geological strata.  Working with the Reverend Adam Sedgewick, a professor at the University of Cambridge, Murchison mapped the strata of Wales.  He was truly a pioneer of geology and his study of Palaeozoic rocks helped define our understanding of deep geological time.  He defined the Silurian in 1835.  The inscription on the monument is a quotation from Sir Roderick, it reads:

“In no part of England are more geological features brought together in a small compass than in the environs of Dudley or in which their characters have been more successfully developed by the labours of practical men.”

Wren’s Nest is a wonderful location, a visit is recommended.

For models and replicas of Palaeozoic prehistoric animals: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models.